Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 February 1986:
Vol. 231. no. 4739, pp. 727 - 729
DOI: 10.1126/science.3945806
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Science, Vol 231, Issue 4739, 727-729
Copyright © 1986 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The cyclopean ear: a new sense for the praying mantis

DD Yager and RR Hoy

The praying mantis, thought to be deaf, possesses a sensitive and specialized acoustic sense. Neural recordings show that the auditory system responds primarily to ultrasound between 25 and 45 kilohertz with thresholds of 55 to 60 decibels. Other insects with auditory tympana possess paired, laterally placed ears; the mantis has only a single ear that is located in the ventral midline between the metathoracic legs. Some species of mantis abruptly and dramatically alter their flight path when stimulated with ultrasonic pulses, suggesting a behavioral response to insectivorous echo-locating bats.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The cost of assuming the life history of a host: acoustic startle in the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea.
M. J. Rosen, E. C. Levin, and R. R. Hoy (2009)
J. Exp. Biol. 212, 4056-4064
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sexual dimorphism in auditory mechanics: tympanal vibrations of Cicada orni.
J. Sueur, J. F. C. Windmill, and D. Robert (2008)
J. Exp. Biol. 211, 2379-2387
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The evolutionary convergence of hearing in a parasitoid fly and its cricket host.
D Robert, J Amoroso, and R. Hoy (1992)
Science 258, 1135-1137
   Abstract »    PDF »
Bat Predation and Its Influence on Calling Behavior in Neotropical Katydids.
J. J. BELWOOD and G. K. MORRIS (1987)
Science 238, 64-67
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)